New Year's Day 2015 Fireworks in Prague and Bratislava2 January 2015

Fireworks in Bratislava from the Danube River

Fireworks in Bratislava over the City

Fireworks in Prague from Letná

Slovak Crosses and the 2004 Devastation in the Tatry Mountains18 June 2014

Milan Malast, who created the video on wooden churches in Slovakia that appears on this web page, created two more videos in 2014: Kríž (Cross), which is a study of all types of crosses in Slovakia, and Apokalypsa Tatry (Apocalypse Tatry), which depicts the devastating winds of 2004 that felled so many trees in Slovakia's Tatry National Park. These are available at:

A Millennium of European History6 November 2013

Click on http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f54_1337075813 for a video that shows how the map of Europe changed over the past thousand years. There are no dates for the border changes, which provides one with a good test of major events.

The History of English in Ten Minutes 28 November 2011

Prague Apartment in 198623 November 2011

The concrete apartment block was a unique aspect of life under socialism from in the 1960s until the fall of the Berlin Wall. Made of concrete panels, the multistory buildings were coveted dwellings for couples, especially in light of the housing shortage that always plagued socialist societies. In the news clip below from 22 November 1986, two friends of mine from Prague, Hana Podloucká, a bookkeeper, and her husband, Petr Podloucký, now a journalist, photographer, and construction supervisor but at the time working in the field of construction for a uranium mine, take possession of their newly-built apartment. Watch for the scenes that show the construction of a new apartment building. The interview begins approximately three minutes into the clip.

Wood Carving Depicting Folk Life in Slovakia23 November 2011

The owners of Slovak Folk Crafts in Grove City, PA, commissioned an enormous animated carving with 82 moving figures that depicts folk life in Slovakia. Three Slovak wood carvers did the work, which took them more than two-and-one-half years to complete. After Slovak Folk Crafts closed, in 2015, the wood carving found a new home at the National Slovak Society’s NSS Life Heritage Museum in McMurray, PA.

“Crisis: A Film of ‘The Nazi Way’”23 November 2011

On 13 March 1939, just two days before Hitler invaded the western part of Czecho-Slovakia and incorporated the territory into the German Third Reich as the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, “Crisis: A Film of ‘The Nazi Way’” was released in the United States. It contains footage shot in Czechoslovakia and smuggled to America that depicts the life of the Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia in the latter half of the 1930s. The film’s producers were Herbert Kline and Rosa Harvan Kline; associate producer was Hanuš Burger (Hans Burger); script was by Herbert Kline, Hanuš Burger, and Alexander Hackenschmied (Hammid); on-screen commentary was by Vincent Sheean; cinematographer was Alexander Hackenschmied; editing was by Herbert Kline, Hanuš Burger, and Alexander Hackenschmied; montage was by Alexander Hackenschmied; score was by H.W. Susskind and Jaroslav Harvan; orchestration was by Roger Désormières (Désormière); and narration was by Leif Erickson. Also appearing in the film are the Czech actors and writers Jiří Voscovec and Jan Werich.

“Zem spieva”: Film about Slovakia from 193323 November 2011

In 1933, the famous Czech photographer and film maker, Karel Plicka (1894-1987) directed and filmed “Zem spieva,” translated as “The Earth Sings” or “The Land Sings.” The film is an important record of folk life in Slovakia, particular about the peasant near the Tatry Mountains. The musical score was by František Škvor (1898-1970), and the editor was Alexander Hackenschmied (1907-2004), who also was involved in “Crisis: A Film of ‘The Nazi Way’” (1939). The film is 63 minutes long, and it does not appear to be on the Internet. However, Youtube has several scenes listed below in random order: